A New Brother!!!

Last weekend we flew home to Chicago for my sister's wedding...absolutely fantastic. The ceremony was beautiful and the reception--my favorite part--was just the kind of thing she had talked about having when we were kids. Somehow she landed on this farm that rents out their two barns for huge social functions, just minutes away from the church. The farm was on this huge spread of land covered in the greenest grass I have ever seen, bordered by a creek with a golf course just on the other side. The weather could not have been more perfect for that kind of occasion--everyone was completely comfortable milling around between the two barns in dresses and tuxes. We really had a wonderful time, and it was hard to come back to Texas, land of hot. There has been talk that we'll head that way when I finish nursing school next summer, but then again there has been talk about heading in 40 different directions when I finish school, so who knows where we'll end up. :)

Speaking of nursing school, I finished my first semester just before we left for Chicago. It was a mini-mester, which means we packed a whole normal semester of Pharmacology into three weeks. I can honestly say I have never worked harder at school in my entire life, and I don't say that to brag at all. School has always come easily for me with not a whole lot of effort...this time around, I am really having to push myself. Nate jokes that I was more in love with my Pharm textbook than with him those three weeks, which could possibly be true, if you look at the amount of time spent with each. ;) Anyway, I am now one week into the summer semester, in which we'll cover fundamentals and history of nursing, plus I get my first round of clinical experiences, starting tomorrow. I am so excited!! I have been assigned to a terrific hospital about 10 minutes from our new house and am really ready to jump in and soak up the experience. I am hoping I get to spend a few days in the oncology unit, which I think is where I want to end up, but last I checked that was still up for debate. We'll see.

Other than that, things are just moving right along for us. We've been trying to take advantage of fun things to do that are close by, so we've taken in a few Rangers games and have plans to go to Hurricane Harbor in a few weeks. The Rangers games are pretty cool...we like to grab drinks and just hang out in the cheap seats, enjoying the outdoors during the only time of day that Texas heat is bearable. Makes you feel like a real American, especially if you get a few $5 hot dogs to go with your $5 soda. :) Going to the games reminds me of two favorite pastimes back home: when I was little, my dad used to take me to the dog races in St. Croix, and we always got $5 sodas to drink while we (he) bet on the dogs. We called them bladder busters, which back then, they really were. I'm also reminded of the Eau Claire Express baseball games I went to with Dad before I got married...what's crazy is that it was $6 a ticket for those games, which were definitely not major league games, and down here we are paying $6 a ticket for games that definitely are major league games. There are definitely advantages to city living. :)